Apparatus for therapeutic treatment of the air of living-rooms.



F. BATTER.

APPARATUS FOR THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT OF THE AIR 0F LIVING ROOMS.

APPLICATION FILED MAB..10,1906.

Patented Nov. 17, 1908.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Patented Nov. 17, 1908.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

I. BATTER.

APPARATUS FOR THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT OF THE AIR OF LIVING ROOMS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.10,1906. 904, 172.

F. BATTER.

APPARATUS FOR THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT OF THE AIR OF LIVING ROOMS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 10,1906.

904;, 1 72 Patented Nov. 17, 1908.

3 SHEETS-SHBET 3.

FRANK BATTER, OF ST. JOHNS, OREGON.

APPARATUS FOR THERAPEUTIC TREATMENT OF. THE AIR 0F LIVING-ROOMS;

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 17, 1908.

Application filed March 10, 1906. Serial No. 805,406.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, F RANK BATTER, of St. Johns, county of Multnomah,State of Oregon, have invented a new and useful Apparatus forTherapeutic Treatment of the Air of Living-Rooms, of which the followingis a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing asconstituting a part thereof.

I t is now well known that in many cases of physiologicalimpoverishment, due to the fact that the blood has lost some of itsvitality, the patient will be benefited by livin for some time, in acomparatively high altitude; and it has been scientifically established(see Air and Life by Henry de Varigny, M. D. So. reprinted inSmithsonian .ll'z'scel, Collect-ions, Vol. 39, 1071. page 56) that thisbeneficial influence of high altitudes is due to the increase of therespiratory capacity of the blood, occasioned by the rarefied conditionof the air. In other words, the blood\of creatures living (in rarefiedair) acquires the power of accumulating a building, rarefied to simulateany desired altitude; and

larger proportion of the oxygen of the air; and the blood will be foundto contain a larger proportion of hemoglobins and of oxygen than if thecreatures had lived under nor mal air pressure. Therefore, my inventionhas for its object to carry this knowledge to practical account, byproviding a room in a sanatorium, hospital, or other convenient in whichthe air can be artificiallv thus to be able to offer relief and benefitto the suffering without the inconvenience and expense of a trip to thehigh mountains. l urthermore, it is manifest that a room in which theair isartificially rarefied can be arranged to afford much more comfortthan it is possible to provide in a mountain inn.

To this end my invention comprises the combination of the followingsteps, and of means for accomplishing the same. namely: the processinvolving the steps of.

1. Providing a continuous artificial circulation of air through a room;

2. Controlling the volume of air admitted into the room by suchcirculation; and

t. Exhausting the air confined within the room a degree faster than thesame can be ressupplied', by such controlled circulation.

My invention incidentally includes furthermore, the step and means forrendering the air supplied to the room dry and warm, and, if desired,besides impregnated with a fragrance of growing plants such as ferns,small pine-trees, wild-flowers, etc.

The apparatus by which I accomplish my wlnch- Figure 1, is alongitudinal section of a building provided with a room the air of whichis to be rarefied, and with apparatus for accomplishing the varioussteps of my invention; Fig. 2, is perspective illustrating a convenient,inexpensive method of building a room able to withstand the higherpressure of the outer atmosphere; Fig. 3, is a detail of a check valve,provided in theinlet airduct for controlling the volume of air admittedinto the rarefaction room; Fig 3, is a detail of an auxiliary air-ventcontrolled by a safety valve; Fig. 4, is a cross section of Fig. 3.exterior of the valve; Fig. 5. is a perspective detail of the safetyvalve; Figs. 6 to 9 are details of special means for looking the doorsof the vestibule leading into the rarefaction room, and facilitating theentrance and exit, into and from, such room; Fig. 10, is a detail of theceiling molding of the rarefaction room; and Fig. 11, is a sectionalpanoramic view of a building adapted to my invention, and provided withthe necessary equipments for practicing the same.

The numerals and letters designate the parts described.

In order to accomplish the several steps of my process, I use apparatusarranged to operate as follows: The apparatus may be convenientlyinstalled in the ground floor of a building, in the upper floor of whichis provided a room R, the air of which is to be maintained in a rarefiedstate. The air is drawn from the outside through an intake 1, leadinginto an apparatus A, by which the air drawn in may be dried and cooledor warmed, as required. The particular type of apparatus by which thedrying, warming or cooling is done, is immaterial, of course. I haverepresented in the drawings, a refrigcrating apparatus of the direct-exansion ammonia-process type, slightly mo ified to suit my purposes. Thecompressed, heated ammonia, is conducted through pipes 2, into chamber6, and is utilized incidentally to heat such chamber. From chamber 1)the ammonia pipe coil 3, leads into an adjoining condensing chamber c,which in practice will be filled with a cooling liquid so as to causecondensation in the pipe 4, which leads into an expansion chamber (1, inwhich a freezobject is illustrated in the drawings, in

ing temperature is maintained. The pipe 5 leads back to starting point,and valvecocks 6, are provided as usual. The intake 1, has a branch 7,leading into chamber 03, and is provided with checks 8, 9, so as to becontrollable. to direct the inflowing air-current into either of thechambers 12 or (1. Connected with the roofs of the chamber 6, d, is anair-duct 10, leading into an uptake 11, leading into a duct 12, leadinginto an uptake 13,,which also extends downward into the chamber 1). Theright end of the duct has two branches 14, 15, entering the roof of thechamber d, and checks 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, are provided by the adjustmentof which, in connection with a suitable adjustment of the checks 8, 9,the apparatus A, can be arranged to fulfil all requirements. That is tosay whenthe checks 8, 16, 17 19 are open and checks 20, 9, 18 are closedthe indrawn air will enter first through the warming chamber 1), andthence pass through ChflIIkber d,-which course would be useful to drythe air; by closing the checks 8, 16, and opening check 9, the indrawnair will pass du'ectly through chamber d; by opening checks 8, 20, andclosing checks 9, 16, the indrawn air would pass through the warmingchamber b, and thence directly into the duct 13, and by closing checks8, 19, and opening checks 9, 18, 16, 20, the indrawn air, will be causedto enter first into the chamber d, and

thence pass through chamber 6, into the duct or uptake 13. By the uptake13, the air is delivered into a chamber f,'which I term a fernery. Inthis chamber are growing plantssmall pine-trees, ferns, wild-flowers,

or whatever may be deemed suitable to impregnate the air with a pleasantfragrance suggestive of the woods and fields. This fernery may howeverbe omitted. The air current is next directed into a duct 21, entering apassage 22, encompassing the ceiling of the room R, and provided with aseries of small orifices 23, disposed equal distances apart, throughwhich the air enters the room. I prefer to divide the inflowing air intonumerous small streams, so as to revent chill ing drafts. The admission0 the air into passage 22. is controlled by a damper 22, adjusted by adependent rod 22', secured in place by a suitable clam 22. The adjustment of the damper 22 eing like the adjustment of the common transomover a door. The air is withdrawn from the room by means of apassage-way 24, leading up from the center of the room and connectingwith a pipe 25, leading to a suction pump 26, b

which the exhausted air is expelled throug an outlet 27. 28 is the mainbelt running from the engine (not shown) and 29 is the belt running theammonia pump a. Let it now be supposed that we have to deal with anatmospheric condition representin the following: temperature, 50degrees, fFah- 'renheit): barometer 29.80 inches, humidity, fromdampness to saturation. I would so arrange the apparatus A, as to causethe air admitted through intake 1 to enter the room d, where thetemperature of the air would be lowered several degrees and thesuspended moisture precipitated.

It is to be noted that the chamber (Z, is provided with a series ofblankets 30, 31, 32, which are fastened on three ends so as to leave apassage-way for the air over the remaining end; that is to say, thefirst blanket 30, is fastened on' its two sides and bottom, the secondblanket 31, is, fastened to the sides and the ceiling of the chamber,and the third blanket 32, is arranged in like manner as the firstblanket; furthermore the blankets may be so arranged that said airpassage around the ends thereof diminish progressively in area, so as toretard the travel of the air from the exterior of the blanket 30, to thespace intermediate of the blankets 30, 31, and to again retard the airin passing to the space intermediate of the blankets 31, 32, andexterior of the blanket 32, thereby prolonging the contact of the airwith the coldsurfaces of the blankets, and promoting the precipitationof the moisture. The air, havin been sufliciently dried, is nextconducted roin the chamber d, through the air-duct 10 into the warmchamber b, where its temperature is raised to point de- --sired. Fromthence it passes through the air-duct 13 to the fernery, thenceintopassage-ways 21, 22, and thence through the orifices 23 into the room B,being withdrawn from the latter by means of the pump 26 and itsconnections, as already mentioned.

By governing the volume of air admitted into the room R, I can soarrange the workings of my apparatus as to cause the air to be taken outfaster than it is admitted, thus causin a partial vacuu m within theroom R, an enabling me to reduce the atmospheric pressure within thesame to any desired degree, or, in other words, make the atmosphericpressure within the room simulate the atmosphere of any altitudedesired. At the same time it will be observed that the air within theroom is maintained absolutely fresh, because of constant'circulation.

In order to provide for the convenience and cheerfulness of the room, Ibuild in the same a fire place 33, of the usual construction, having aper 35. When the room is used as an ordinar room, the damper 35 isopened, thus estab i'shing a natural draft in the fire-place 33, throughthe flue 34. But when the pressure of air of the room has been reduced,as mentioned, below that of the outside air, the damper 35 is closed,and the smoke and gases of the fire-place 33,-are then carried throughfine 36, connected with theexhaust passageway 24, and are withdrawn anddischarged flue 34, controllable by a dam- 1 fixed within the .Both ofin the same manner as the air is withdrawn from the room.

The room R besides having inlet and out, let airrpassages 21,22, 24, isalso provided with auxiliary air-vents 37, leading to the exterior ofthe building and respectively controlled by a valve adapted to closeautomatically while my apparatus is operated to reduce the atmospheripressure within the room, 'but preventing any dimimuion of the volume ofthe air within the room R below the point of comfort, or safety. That isto say, referring to the details of the valve 37, shown in Fig. 3, apartition 38, rigidly afvalve-casing 39, has dependently hinged to itslower edge a valve 40, made with an opening 41. The lastmentionedopening is normally covered by a disk 42, being an integral part of anarm 43, alsohinged on the partition 38, and rovided with a movableweight 44. Compare Figs. 3 4, 5. The operation of the valve justdescribed, is as follows: So long as the atmospheric pressure within theroom is about equal to that of the outside air, Will be held open by theweight 44, on the arm 43. As soon as the atmospheric pressure within thebuilding isreduced below the normal, the pressure of the outside air,rushing in against the exterior of the valve 40, will close the same,and the pressure of the air within the room may then be further reducedto any desired point. X

The weight 44, may be adjusted to cause the disk 43, covering the hole41, to resist a predetermined excess in the weight of the outer air overthat confined within the room R. But as soon as the resistance of theweight 44 is overcome by the outside air pressure, the disk 42 will beforced inward and allow the outside air to enter the room. Therefore,the proper adjustment of the weight 44, on the arm- 43, is an automaticsafe-guard against the reduction or rarefaction of the air within theroom below the point of safety. I prefer to use two air vents 37, anddispose the same at opposite ends of the room.

The room R, may be made of any convenient shape, though a room ofcircular form is best adapted to withstand the load of outsideair-pressure.

In Fi 2, I have shown an inexpensive design for building'ararefactionroom of lumber. W

The entrance to the room R, must be provided with a passage-way orvestibule 45, controlled by two air-tight doors 46, 47. such doors areso arranged as to open outward with respect to the room R. It isnecessary to have two doors with an intermediate vestibule leading intothe room R, so as to render it convenient to enter and leave the room,

quality between the atmospheric pressure building.

the valve notwithstanding the inewithin the room R and that outside ofthe The door 46, is provided with an air-vent 48, leading from theoutside to the vestibule 45, and normally closed by a disk 49, carriedby a latch-lever 50, adapted to project and retract a locking bolt 51,entering a cavity therefor provided in the casing of the door. Thelatch-levers of both doors are respectively provided with handles, sothat each of the doors may be opened from the outside or inside. Thedoor 47, is provided with an air-duct 52, leading into an air-duct53,connecting with the exhaust' passage-way 24. Alatch-lever is alsoprovided for the door 47, and such latch-lever has alsoadisk 49, adaptedto normally close the duct 52.

The air-ducts inthe doors, and the valvedisks controlling the same,serve the following purpose: In lifting the latch-lever of the outerdoor 46, the duct 48, is uncovered, thus allowing the outer air ingressinto the vestibule 45, and causing the air pressure therein to becomeequal with that of the exterior of the building. The door 46 may now befreely opened, and the person having entered the vestibule 45, closesthe outer door behind him. Now proceeding to open the inner door. 47 bylifting the latch-lever thereof, the air-ducts 52, 53, are opened, thusestablishing a communication between the vestibule 45 and the exhaustpassageway 24, with the efi ect that in a few seconds the air in thevestibule is reduced in pressure to correspond with that in the room R,and the door 47, may now be readily opened. Having entered the room, thedoor 47 is closed, and the apparatus allowed to act to rarefy the airwithin the room R to suit the occupant.

WVhen leaving th room R, the occupant thereof would again manipulate thedoors 46, 47, as described, in the inverse order, and is able to reachthe exterior ofthe building without inconvenience to himself, or havingto handle the doors otherwise than about as he would ordinary doors.

In F i 10, I have shown a molding, which may be uilt into, and is desined to encompass the ceiling of the room, for the purpose of providingan air assage-way 22, having a series of, small in et-or1fices 23,through which the fresh air is supplied to, and dis tributed in the roomR.

The window panes 56, should be made of convexed glass, so as to beadapted to resist the pressure of the outer atmosphere.

It is also convenient to provide a pair of barometers, one thereof 54,positioned outside of the building, to indicate the normal pressure ofthe atmosphere, and the other 55,

placed within the room; both being located to be conveniently observedby the occupant of the room.

The inside barometer could be provided With an index indicating theatmospheric pressure prevalent at certain geographical localities, andalso to give the pressures which have been found beneficial to personsafilicted with asthma, or other ailments, so as to aid the occupant ofthe room to adjust the atmospheric pressure therein to whatevercondition he believes will afford him the greatest comfort.

The extent of rarefaction of the air in the room depends upon the speedof the pump 26; and thus it is a simple matter to control the apparatusas desired.

The pictorial representation of the practice'of my invention Fig. 11shows an ante room or additional vestibule 45 and in some other respectsslightly varies from Fig. 1; but the figure nevertheless is intended torepresent merely the idea of means above set forth.

I claim:

1. In a therapeutic apparatus for the purpose specified, the combinationof a room normally cut off from the outer air, means adapted toartificially circulate air through the room, means adapted to controlthe vol ume of air admitted by said circulating means into the room,means adapted to continuously exhaust the air confined within the room adegree faster than the same is admitted through such controlled inlet, avestibule leading into the room, outer and inner doors in vsuchvestibule, and means whereby the air pressure within the vestibule maybe adjusted.

2. In a therapeutic apparatus for the purpose specified the combinationof a room normally cut ofl from the outer air, means adapted toartificially circulate air through the room, means adapted to controlthe volume of air admitted by said circulating means into the room,means adapted to continuously exhaust the air confinedwithin the room adegree faster than the same is admitted through such controlledair-inlet; a vestibule leading into the room, outer and inner doors insuch vestibule, latches on the doors, and means operated by the openingof the latches, respectively adapted to adjust the air pressure withinthe vestibule as specified.

3. In a therapeutic apparatus forithe purpose specified, the combinationof a room normally cut oil from the outer air, means adapted toartificially circulate air through the room, means adapted tocontrol thevolume of air admitted by said circulating means into the roo meansadapted tocontinuously exhaust he air confined within the room a degreefaster than the same is admitted through such controlled air-inlet; avestibule leading into the room, outer and inner doors in suchvestibule, latches on the doors, means operated by the opening of thelatches, respectively, adapted to adjust the air pressure within thevestibule as specified,

and means whereby the temperature of the circulated air may be adjustedin advance of its admission into the room.

4. In a therapeutic apparatus for the purpose specified the combinationof a room normally cut oil from the outer air, means adapted toartificially circulate airthrough the room, means adapted to control thevolume of air admitted by said circulating means into the room,means'adapted to continuously exhaust the air confined Within the room adegree faster than the same is J admitted through such controlledair-inlet; a vestibule leading into the room, outer and inner doors insuch vestibule, latches on the doors, means operated by the opening ofthe latches, respectively, adapted to ad ust the air pressure within thevestibule as specified, and means whereby the degree of moisture andtemperature of the circulated air may be adjusted in advance of itsadmissioninto the room.

5. In a therapeutic apparatus for the purpose specified, the combinationof a room normally cut off from the outer air, means adapted toartificially circulate the air through the room, means adapted tocontrol the volume of air admitted by said circulating means into theroom, means adapted to continuously exhaust the air confined within theroom a deg'ree faster than the same is admitted through such controlledair-inlet; a vestibule leadlng into the room, outer and inner doors insuch vestibule, latches on the doors, and means operated by the openingof the latches, respectively, adapted to adjust'the air pressure withinthe vestibule as specified, means whereby the degree of moisture andtemperature of the circulated air may be adjusted in advance of itsadmission into the room, and means adapted to impregnate the circulatedair with the fragrance of plants in advance of its admission into theroom. I

6. A therapeutic apparatus, for the purpose specified, comprising aroom, controllable air-inlets for the room, means whereby to'exhaust theair from the room relatively to its admission, a vestibule leading intothe room, outer and inner doors,- and means whereby the air pressurewithin the vestibule may be adjusted, and means adapted to medicinallyimpregnate the circulated air in advance of its admission into the room.

. 7. In a therapeutic apparatus for the purpose specified, thecombination of a room normally cut ofi from the outer air, means adaptedto artificially circulate air through the room, means adapted to controlthe volume of air admitted by said circulating admitted into the room, avestibule leading standard.

into the rooin, outer and inner doors in such vestibule, means wherebythe air pressure within the vestibule may be adjusted, and automaticsafety air-inlet valves arranged in the room to prevent rarefaction ofthe air therein confined below a predetermined 8. A thera euticapparatus, for the purose specific com using a room, controlableair-inlets for t e room, means whereby to exhaust the air from the roomrelatively to its admission, a vestibule leading into the room, outerand inner doors, and means whereby the air pressure within the vestibulemay be adjusted.

9. A thera euticapparatus for the purpose s ecifie comprising a roomnormally check controlling the admission of air through the inlet, meanswhereby to exhaust the-ainfrom the room relatively to its adfrom theouter air, an air-inlet, a

mission, a vestibule leading into the room, outer and inner doors, andmeans, whereby the air ressure within the vestibule may be adjusted 10.A therapeutic apparatus for the purpose s ecified, comprising a roomnormally out o from the outer air, an air-inlet, .a check controllingthe admission of air through the inlet, means whereby to exhaust the airfrom the room relatively to its admission, a vestibule leading into theroom, outer and inner doors,. means whereby the air pressure within thevestibule may be adjusted, and automatic safety air-inlet valves,arranged in the room to prevent rarefication of air therein confinedbelow a predetermined standard.

' FRANK BATTER.

Witnesses:

T. J. GEISLER, JAs. H. Korma.

